Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 5 - Rangers 2

The Washington Capitals got back on the winning path on Sunday night when they defeated the New York Rangers, 5-2, at Verizon Center.  The win gave the Caps 71 standings points for the season, the first team in the NHL to reach that mark.

It was the Rangers starting the scoring in this one, getting a goal from Cap Killer Chris Kreider in the 11^th minute of the first period, a re-direction of a shot from the left point by Ryan McDonagh.  The Caps tied it with just under two minutes left in the period on a power play.  A cross-ice pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov to Alex Ovechkin was deadened by Marc Staal Jesper Fast, but not enough to keep the puck from getting to its intended recipient.  It prevented Ovechkin from firing a one-timer from the left wing circle, but he still had time to settle the puck, step around Dylan McIlrath, and fire a wrist shot through the pads of goalie Antti Raanta.

The Caps opened up a lead in the second period with a pair of goals just 62 seconds apart.  Marcus Johansson got the first one on another power play.  It was the product of a subtle change in the Caps’ deployment on the man advantage.  With teams cheating a defender to Ovechkin’s side of the ice to prevent a pass for a one-timer, the Caps moved Johansson from the goal line extended from the goalie’s left to the top of the crease, forcing defenders to play honest to prevent a feed in front.  The Rangers could not prevent that, though, as Nicklas Backstrom threaded a fine pass to the top of the Rangers’ crease where Johansson redirected it past Raanta to make it 2-1.

Just 1:02 later it was 3-1.  Justin Williams took a pass at the Ranger blue line and skated into the offensive zone.  He left the puck for Andre Burakovsky in the right wing circle, and Burakovsky kicked it out to Taylor Chorney.  From the top of the zone Chorney fired a wrist shot that hit Justin Williams on the way through and eluded Raanta to put the Rangers in a two-goal hole.

The Rangers got back within a goal late in the second period when Kreider scored his second of the game, picking up a loose puck between the hash marks, spinning, and wristing it past goalie Braden Holtby.

The Rangers would get no closer.  Justin Williams scored his second goal of the game less than five minutes into the third period to restore the Caps’ two-goal lead.  The Rangers’ J.T. Miller coughed up the puck on a ghastly turnover in his own end, throwing the puck from the wall at the players’ bench through the middle of the ice to no one in particular.  Andre Burakovsky collected the puck and fed Evgeny Kuznetsov skating into the left wing circle.  Kuznetsov passed it in front, and Williams redirected it past Raanta’s left pad at the 4:51 mark to make it 4-2.

Williams ended the scoring with an empty-net hat-trick goal with 1:51 left.  Settling a loose puck at the red line, Williams turned and fired, the puck sliding past the stick of Dan Boyle, off the toe of Derick Brassard, and into the net to give the Caps their final 5-2 margin.

Other stuff…

-- In the last eight periods of hockey between these teams, the Caps have outscored the Rangers, 15-5.

-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal made it nine straight games with a goal against the Rangers, 11 overall.  The odd part of that is…no assists in any of those nine games.

-- Just 14 seconds after Chris Kreider’s second goal for the Rangers, Braden Holtby took himself out of the game.  He was reported to be suffering from symptoms of dehydration.

-- With the hat trick, his first as a Capital and second of his career (October 16, 2006 with Carolina in a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay), Williams took over the number two spot in goal scoring for the Caps (16) behind Alex Ovechkin (27).

-- Andre Burakovsky had two assists…again.  That makes three games in his last four that he recorded two assists.

-- Depending on which official source you look at, Evgeny Kuznetsov had either two assists (on the league’s event summary for this game) or three in this game (on his player page).  If it was three, that makes two games in his last three that Kuznetsov had three points.  And, he tied Nicklas Backstrom for the team lead in helpers with 29.

-- With two power plays in four chances, the Caps bounced back after consecutive games without a power play goal.  They are 8-for-27 since January 1^st (29.6 percent).

-- Philipp Grubauer came in to spell Braden Holtby late in the second period and played the final 32:18 of the game, stopping all 11 shots he faced.  In his last six appearances, three of which involved his replacing Holtby in-game, he stopped 126 of 132 shots, a .955 save percentage.  He did not get the win, but if hockey had “saves” as they do in baseball, he would have one for this game.

-- Anybody have Tom Wilson leading the team with six shot attempts (three on goal, two blocked, one miss)?  No, I didn’t either.

-- The Caps dominated the faceoff circle, winning 42 of 71 draws (59.2 percent).  Over their last four games the Caps have won 56.7 percent of their faceoffs (143-for-252).

In the end…

What can you say about this team at the moment?  Their top defensive pair out, missing a regular forward, their goalie going out mid-game in distress, and they still win going away.  Sure, that was Antti Raanta in net for the Rangers, not Henrik Lundqvist, but the Caps did not let up in facing the Rangers’ back-up.  For the 11^th time in 45 games the Caps scored five or more goals (tied for first in the league); for the 29^th time they allowed two or fewer (tops in the league).  In doing both they recorded their 14^th win by three or more goals, tops in the league, and they are now 55-21-6 in their last 82 games.  You have to like the way this team is playing.

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 14

Week 14 might be described in terms of wine-tasting… a fine bouquet, full-bodied, impressive depth…but a disappointing finish…

Record: 2-1-0

Week 14 was the ninth consecutive winning week for the Caps and their 13^th winning week overall for the season.  They finished the week with a league-leading 33 wins, three more than the Chicago Blackhawks (the Caps holding three games in hand), and 31 wins in regulation and overtime, two more than the Blackhawks.  With the two wins for the week coming on home ice, the Caps finished Week 14 with the league’s best record on a standings points-per-game basis (1.67), ahead of the Blackhawks (1.56) and the Dallas Stars (1.55).

When the Caps beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1, in the middle game of the week, it extended Washington’s most recent winning streak to five games, the fourth time this season that the Caps have had a winning streak of five games or more.  The strange thing about the week, though, was the loss.  Of the Caps’ five losses since December 1^st (three in regulation, two in extra time), four of them were suffered against teams that today would not be in the playoffs: Winnipeg (2-1 in overtime on December 5^th), Carolina (4-2 on December 31^st), Columbus (5-4 in a Gimmick on January 2^nd), and Buffalo (4-1 on January 16^th).

Offense:  4.00/game (season: 3.23 /game; rank: 2nd)

The Capitals faced two teams to start the week – Ottawa and Vancouver – who were in the bottom five in the league in shots on goal allowed per game.  Against a team like the Caps that has considerable depth on offense, that can be a problem.  It was for the Senators, who allowed seven goals to the Caps, and the Canucks, who allowed four goals to Washington.

Against the Sabres to end the week, the Caps just couldn’t find a way to get started.  They were out-attempted (8-6) and out-chanced (4-2) by Buffalo at 5-on-5 in the first period when they fell behind, 2-0.  It did not get any better in the second period in terms of attempts, but the Caps could not convert their scoring chance advantage (5-3, numbers from war-on-ice.com).  By that time it was 4-0, Sabres, and the goose, as they say, was cooked.

The Caps got two-goal weeks from Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson.  Ovechkin scored his pair – his 500^th and 501^st career goals – in the win over Ottawa to start the week, and Kuznetsov got his pair in the win over Vancouver on Thursday.  Wilson had one against each of the Senators and Canucks.

Assists were something of an unexpected matter. Andre Burakovsky might contribute four assists over three games on a more regular basis when he has a few more years under his belt, but four in Week 14 he had, getting a pair in each of the games against Ottawa and Vancouver.  Jason Chimera also had a four-assist week, getting his second three-assist game of the season against Ottawa.

Defense: 2.00/game (season: 2.14 /game; rank:1st)

It is nice to see consecutive weeks allowing 2.00 goals per game, but allowing two-thirds of the week’s goals to the league’s 27^th-ranked offense made for some funky aftertaste to what was otherwise a good week.  What made it stranger was the fact that the Caps allowed the Sabres only 45 shot attempts (only 25 at 5-on-5) for the game in their 4-1 loss.  The 29 shots on goal allowed was the lowest of the three games, too.  The problem was in allowing Buffalo too many good looks at the net in the opportunities they had, recording 11 scoring chances to go with their 25 shot attempts at 5-on-5 (numbers from war-on-ice.com). 

It made for an odd week in terms of the underlying numbers.  The Buffalo loss was the difference between a good week overall, which it was, and a really good week.  As it was, the Caps had an overall Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 of 55.9 and a close score Corsi of 58.0.  Take away that Buffalo loss, and the numbers would have been 54.7 and 61.8, respectively.

At an individual level it was a bit odd, too.  Justin Williams (best Corsi-for and best Corsi-relative at 5-on-5 among the forwards, ten games minimum) had an uncharacteristic three-goals against on ice for the week, two at even strength.  Three other Caps were on-ice for three goals against for the week: Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Goaltending: 2.00 /.935 (season: 2.02 / .929 / 2 shutouts)

It is not common for Philipp Grubauer to get more minutes for a week than Braden Holtby, but such was the case in Week 14.  Grubauer had 93 minutes for the week, stopping 44 of the 46 shots he faced (1.29/.957).  Holtby finished the week with 87 minutes, stopping 42 of 46 shots (2.75/.913), and he was relieved after giving up three goals on 16 shots in 27 minutes of work.

Grubauer has pieced together an impressive body of work over the last month.  He does not get a lot of calls with Holtby at or near the top of the rankings in most goaltender statistics, but in his last five appearances he is 3-1-0 (one no-decision), 1.48, .950.

Holtby saw his incredible string of appearances without a regulation loss come to an end in the 4-1 loss at Buffalo on Saturday.  For the week he was 1-1-0.  In the 23-appearance stretch over which he was 20-0-2, he posted a 1.85 goals against average and a .939 save percentage with two shutouts.

Power Play: 2-for-9 / 22.2 percent (season: 25.4 percent; rank: 2nd)

The Caps slipped just a bit on the power play in Week 14, the first time since Week 9 that they did not finish a week at 25 percent or better.  The week started as if the Caps would continue that string, going 2-for-3 in the 71 win over Ottawa last Sunday.  Drawing blanks against Vancouver on two chances and again against Buffalo on four opportunities dropped them under 25 percent for the week.  The consecutive games without a power play goal was the first time that happened since Games 34-35 back on December 26-28 (the last of three straight without a power play goal).

It was a case of sometimes the shots just not going in.  Washington pummeled opposing goalies for 26 shots in just 15:46 of power play time (1.65 shots per minute).  And the shots came from the players they need to have getting them.  Alex Ovechkin had seven power play shots on goal to lead the club (one goal).  Justin Williams had four.  Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov split six shots from their perch on the right wing of the power play.  T.J. Oshie had a goal on the two shots he recorded.

The disappointment, in addition to the finish of the week, was yielding a shorthanded goal to Buffalo when a goal on that power play would have tied the game.  It was just the second shorthanded goal allowed by the Caps this season and jut the second scored by the Sabres, but it might have been the turning point that turned a potential perfect week into something that was not.

Penalty Killing: 10-for-12 / 83.3 percent (season: 84.8 percent; rank: 4th)

There have been some cracks in the armor of the Caps’ penalty kill lately.  After finishing the 2015 portion of the season with five straight games allowing no power play goals (15-for-15), the Caps are just 19-for-24 (79.2 percent) in the new year.  They started the year allowing power play goals in consecutive games, then ran off three in a row in which they did not.  They finished this week allowing power play goals in each of the last two games. 

It was not an especially efficient penalty kill, especially as the week wore on.  Washington allowed only seven shots on goal (no scores) in eight minutes of shorthanded ice time against Ottawa.  It was five shots (one goal) in 4:45 against Vancouver, and a whopping 15 shots (one goal) in 9:07 of shorthanded ice time against Buffalo.

Faceoffs: 101-for-181 / 55.8 percent (season: 50.1% / rank: 14th)

The Caps had a good week overall and their specifics.  In that sense it resembles Week 13.  They were over 50 percent in all three games and in all three zones for the week.  Better still, they dominated in the ends, going 41-for-69 in the offensive zone (59.4 percent) and 30-for-54 in the defensive zone (55.6 percent). 

Evgeny Kuznetsov (26-for-37) and Marcus Johansson (11-for-17), two players you would not think to be dominant in the faceoff circle, combined to win 72.2 percent of their draws for the week.  Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie were especially successful in the offensive end, combining to go 17-for-24 (70.8 percent).  In the defensive end, it was Nicklas Backstrom going 10-for-15 (66.7 percent).  A bit of an odd week all around the circle.

Goals by Period:

Again, the Buffalo game bit into what was a week that looked very good, this time in goals by period.  Going into the game against the Sabres, the Caps held Ottawa and Vancouver without a first period goal, and they pounded them for a 5-1 advantage in the second period and a 4-1 advantage in the third.  Allowing two goals in each of the first and second periods spelled doom for the Caps in their effort to make it a perfect week.  As it is, they still hold a plus-10 or better goal differential in each of the three periods this season, the only club who can say that.

In the end…

Florida has a 12-game winning streak this season, yet they are 12 standings points behind the Capitals.  Chicago has a ten-game winning streak that is still alive, but they are five points behind the Caps, and Washington holds three games in hand.  The Caps do not have a double-digit game winning streak this season, but it is their ability to put together consistent stretches of fine play – four streaks of five wins or more – that has enabled to take and hold the top spot in the league standings.  In that sense, a 2-1-0 week is somewhat typical of the season to date.  Put another way, if they win two of every three games over the remainder of the season, they would finish with 120 standings points.  It would be a season that ages well with a good finish.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-0-2, even, 15 SOG, 32 shot attempts, 500^th and 501^st career goals)
• Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-2-4, plus-2, 26-for-37 on faceoffs (70.3 percent))
• Third Star: Philipp Grubauer (1-0-0, 1.29, .957)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 45: Rangers at Capitals, January 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals return home from their 4-1 loss in Buffalo on Saturday night to host the New York Rangers in a 5:00 match-up at Verizon Center.  The contest will kick off a ten-day stretch leading up to the All-Star break in which the Caps will face Metropolitan Division opponents four times in five contests.

Both the Caps and the Rangers will be skating the back-half of a back-to-back set of games, the Rangers having bested the Philadelphia Flyers in a Gimmick, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon.   It was one more in a pattern of alternating wins and losses (5-4-1) that goes back to the 7-3 loss the Caps pinned on them on December 20^th at Madison Square Garden.  This will be their first visit to Washington this season.

Two of those losses over the Rangers’ past ten games came at the hands of the Caps.  In addition to the 7-3 loss on December 20th, the Caps took a lead, gave it up, tied the game in the dying seconds of regulation on a goal by Nicklas Backstrom, then grabbed a 4-3 win in overtime on what was Alex Ovechkin’s 499^th career goal.

Since that game, the Rangers sandwiched a pair of wins – 2-1 over the Boston Bruins and the trick shot win over the Flyers yesterday – around a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders.  Meanwhile, the Caps scored a pair of wins, beating the Ottawa Senators, 7-1, and the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1, before dropping a decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

There isn’t a lot new since we wrote about the January 9th meeting of these teams… 

• The Caps were first in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference then, and they are now.
• The Rangers were second in the Metropolitan Division then, and they are now.

• The Caps were second in the NHL in scoring offense then, and they are now.  They were second in scoring defense then, they are first now.
• The Rangers were fourth in scoring offense then, they are fifth now.  They were 14^th in scoring defense then, they are 14^th now.

• The Caps’ power play…second then, second now.  Penalty kil…sixth then, fourth now.
• The Rangers’ power play…12^th then, 14^th now.  Penalty kill… 15^th then, 20^th now.

Here is where they stand going into this game…

1.  Mats Zuccarello leads the team in goals (16), but he is without one in his last six games.

2.  Rick Nash, he of the 42 goals last season, has just 12 on the season, and he is without one in his last six games, too.

3.  Derick Brassard has not scored a goal on the road in more than a month, since he had a pair in Edmonton against the Oilers in a 7-5 loss on December 11^th.  He has three goals in 21 road games this season.

4.  Oscar Lindberg is tied for seventh in goal scoring among rookies this season (11).

5.  The Rangers, a team that has struggled most of the season in their possession numbers (47.4 percent in Corsi-for at 5-on-5/25^th), has been decent in that regard over their last ten games.  Their overall Corsi-for (50.2), score adjusted (50.5), and close score (49.2; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Nicklas Backstrom has four points (1-3-4) in his last two games against the Rangers.

2.  Alex Ovechkin has four goals against the Rangers this season, recording at least one in each of the three games at Madison Squarer Garden.  He has both game-winning goals in the Caps’ wins against the Blueshirts this season.

3.  Justin Williams was a minus-2 against the Sabres on Saturday night, the first time he was a minus-2 or worse since he recorded a minus-2 in a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on November 19^th (26 games).

4.  Marcus Johansson scored the Caps’ only goal in the 4-1 loss to the Sabres on Saturday night.  He is 6-6-12 in his last 12 games.

5.  The Caps have had strange possession numbers against the Rangers in three games this season.  Their overall Corsi-for at 5-on-5 is 52.1 percent, but in close score situations it is 39.8 percent (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York: Henrik Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist might get this night off for the Rangers.  That might not be a bad thing for the visitors.   In three games against the Caps this season he is 1-1-1, 4.09, .876.  It is part of a larger uncharacteristic season for the 11-year veteran.  Among 39 goalies recording at least 1,000 minutes of ice time, Lundqvist ranks 23^rd in goals against average (2.46) and 17^th in save percentage (.921).  The season numbers are by no means bad, and he allowed two or fewer goals in four of his last five appearances.  Still, it has been less of a “King”-like season for Lundqvist.

Washington: Braden Holtby

Braden Holtby lost last night.  The last time we could say he lost a game in regulation, we had not yet celebrated Veterans Day, had not yet stuffed the turkey or put the marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole, had not yet wrapped the presents for Christmas, had not yet rung in the new year, and had not yet had a bowl of strawberry ice cream on National Strawberry Ice Cream Day.  The loss to the Sabres on Saturday night ended Holtby’s streak of games earning at least on standings point at 22 games (20-0-2).  Over those 23 appearances (one no-decision), he posted a 1.85 goals against average and a .939 save percentage with two shutouts.  There is another streak he can extend, though.  Holtby has not lost consecutive games over his last 48 appearances, going 37-7-3, 2.00, .930, with four shutouts over that span of games.  However, among the 21 teams he has faced this season, his save percentage of .869 in three games against the Rangers is his worst.

In the end…

It doesn’t happen often this season, just ten times through 44 games, but here we are again seeing if the Caps can keep from losing consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season (their lone instance of losing consecutive games included a loss in extra time).  The Caps have won 11 straight at home dating back to their 3-2 loss to Dallas on November 19^th.  Eight of those victories were by multi-goal margins, five of them featured the Caps scoring five or more goals.  If the Rangers’ recent pattern of wins and losses holds, this will go into the loss column for the Blueshirts.  Sounds okay to us.

Capitals 5 – Rangers 2

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 44: Capitals at Sabres, January 16th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals take their show on the road on Saturday night when they visit the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center in Buffalo in what will be the teams’ last meeting of the 2015-2016 season.

This will be the third meeting of the team in the last 23 days, so they should be familiar with one another.  What with the Caps heading to the Snow Belt of upstate New York, our attention turns to thoughts of warmer weather and the fact that pitchers and catchers report to baseball spring training in about a month.  And with that we welcome one of baseball’s most famous fans, who also happens to be quite a hockey fan it turns out – Annie Savoy.  Welcome, Annie.

Annie Savoy: I’m glad to be here.

Peerless: Annie, you obviously have a great love and respect for baseball.  How did you come to be a hockey fan?

AS: “Walt Whitman once said, ‘I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.’ You could look it up.  And then I read that Don Cherry said about hockey in Canada, ‘It's a religion here, a way of life. We love the game too much. People were starving for it. When the season starts, they will all be back. They can't help themselves.’  I knew it was a sport for me.”

Peerless: You are a believer in past lives.  You once famously said that another lifetime you were probably Catherine the Great, or Francis of Assisi.  Do you think there might have been a hockey player among your previous incarnations?

AS: Well, I don’t know about that, but if I was a hockey player in a past life, I think it might have been ‘Boom-Boom Geoffrion’…or maybe Georges Vezina.  I just like saying “Chicoutimi Cucumber.’”

Peerless: I don’t know if you’ve seen the Caps very often, but I’d like to get your take on them so far.

AS: “Well, from what I’ve seen, it’s a really special team, 20 guys really playing together every night, the kind of thing that happens, but we just don’t understand.  It’s like I always say, ‘it's all a question of quantum physics, molecular attraction, and timing. Why, there are laws we don't understand that bring us together and tear us apart. Uh, it's like pheromones. You get three ants together, they can't do dick. You get 300 million of them, they can build a cathedral.’  Or maybe 20 of them can win a Stanley Cup.”

Peerless: One last question…It looks as though Michael Latta has recovered from the arm injury he suffered a few games ago.  If he’s ready to go, do you think he deserves a white jersey from Barry Trotz for this game?

AS: “Honey, we all deserve to wear white.”

Well, the Caps will dress 20 in white for this game, and Buffalo will send out 20 in blue.   And blue might be the mood in which Sabres fans might find themselves these days.  Starting with the home and home losses to the Caps in the last week of December, Buffalo is 2-6-0 over their last eight games.  They have won their last two contests, but it is a team that is sliding in the standings, perhaps starting to look a bit toward next season and the promise a young team with talent can hope to fulfill.

In those last eight games, Buffalo has been outscored by a 25-15 margin.  Their power play is 5-for-27 over that span (18.5 percent), and their penalty kill is 9-for-13 (70.7 percent).  Four times in those eight games the Sabres faced a single shorthanded situation.  They were a perfect 4-for-4 in those games, so the key here, apparently, is getting them to go shorthanded more than once.

Sam Reinhart has four of the Sabres’ 15 goals over the last eight games, three of them coming in Buffalo’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on January 10th.  The hat trick was his first in the NHL.  Reinhart, a second overall draft pick in 2014, has had a decent rookie campaign with the Sabres.  He is tied for fifth in goal scoring among rookies, and he is tied for sixth overall with 19 points.  In a season – and a city – in which he is overshadowed by Jack Eichel as a rookie talent, he is having a nice year.  He does not have a point in two career games against Washington.

Speaking of Jack Eichel, he is the leading point-getter in this recent Sabre Slump (2-5-7).  He has been just about what you might expect from a second-overall draft pick (2015 draft) in the offensive end.  He is tied for third among rookies in goals scored (13, with Max Domi), fourth in assists (14), and fourth in total points (27).  He is also tied for first with Chicago’s Artemi Panarin in average ice time among rookie forwards (18:51 per game).  However, he is also third-worst among 144 rookie skaters in plus-minus (minus-11), so there’s that.  He has two assists in the two games he played against the Caps this season and is a minus-2.

The goaltending situation for the Sabres in this game might see the return of Robin Lehner to the ice, depending on who head coach Dan Bylsma picks to start against the Boston Bruins on Friday night.  Lehner, obtained from the Ottawa Senators for a first-round draft pick last summer, was the starter-to-be for the Sabres, but he sprained an ankle in the Sabres’ season opener, and he is just now reporting back for duty after a conditioning stint with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate in Rochester.  Lehner does lead the league in one statistic.  He is the NHL’s heaviest goalie to dress for a game this season at 240 pounds.  He has one career appearance against the Caps, allowing two goals on 29 shots in a 2-1 loss to Washington on February 5, 2015.  The odd part of that game was that all three goals were scored in a span of 2:02 in the second period.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  The goaltending has not been bad in Lehner’s place.  Chad Johnson and Linus Ullmark have combined for a 2.51 goals against average and a .916 save percentage with one shutout (Johnson).

2.  Buffalo is one of those odd teams whose home record has put them in an uncompetitive position in the East.  They are just 8-13-2 at First Niagara Center while going 9-9-2 on the road (pending results on Friday night).

3.  The Sabres have a decent home penalty kill (82.6 percent/14th), but they do not appear to pose much of a threat to score when shorthanded.  They have just one shorthanded goal this season, that by Evander Kane in a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on December 4th.  Only two NHL teams have yet to score a shorthanded goal, the Detroit Red Wings and the Coyotes.

4.  Buffalo spends a lot of time trying to get their wits about them in the offensive end early in games.  Their 20 first period goals are second fewest in the league to the 18 that the Philadelphia Flyers have scored.

5.  Buffalo does not have an easy time of it at home when it comes to possession numbers.  In overall/score-adjusted/close score Corsi they rank 19^th (49.3 percent)/27^th (46.2 percent)/26^th (47.7 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  In the Caps’ most recent five-game winning streak coming into this contest, they have outscored opponents, 22-8, their last four games with four or more goals scored.  Their power play is 4-for-13 (30.8 percent), while their penalty killers are 14-for-15 (93.3 percent).

2.  The usual suspects lead the Caps in goals and assists in their five-game winning streak.  Alex Ovechkin has five goals, while Nicklas Backstrom has five assists.  Backstrom leads in total scoring with seven points (2-5-7).

3.  Among players appearing in 20 or more games this season, Backstrom is one of seven averaging at least 1.00 points per game (41 points in 40 games).  He ranks fourth overall in that statistic, trailing only Tyler Seguin (1.16), Jamie Benn (1.20), and Patrick Kane (1.37).

4.  The Caps are the only team in the league that ranks in the top five in goals scored by period – 1st period: 39 (3rd); 2nd period: 46 (2nd); and 3rd period: 53 (2nd).

5.  Over their last 17 road games, a span of which the Caps have not been over 50 percent Corsi-for in as many as two consecutive games, the Caps are 46.0 percent overall.  They are better in score-adjusted terms over that span (49.5 percent), but worse in close score situations (45.7 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Buffalo: Matt Moulson

Once upon a time, when he was with the New York Islanders, Matt Moulson was one of those quietly effective, under-the-radar goal scorers.  From 2009 until 2013, when he was traded to Buffalo (his first your of duty there) with two draft picks for Thomas Vanek, he recorded 118 goals in 304 games, a rate of 32 goals per 82 games.  Since leaving Long Island, Moulson has 34 goals in 183 games with the Sabres and the Minnesota Wild, a rate of 15 goals per 82 games.  That includes just four goals in 42 games this season for the Sabres, none in his last 30 games.  The lack of performance has eaten heavily into his ice time; he was under ten minutes in each of his last three games and in four of his last seven (the only four games he was given less than ten minutes of ice time this season).  Moulson is 5-7-12, plus-2, in 22 career games against the Capitals.

Washington: Taylor Chorney

Taylor Chorney is not going to wow anyone with his offense from the blue line.  When he recorded an assist in the Caps’ 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on November 19th, it was the first point he had in an NHL game since he had a goal (the game-winner) and an assist in a 4-1 win over those same Stars on February 15, 2011, when he was skating for the Edmonton Oilers.  In between, he went 25 games over all or part of five seasons with four teams (Edmonton, the St. Louis Blues, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Caps) without recording a point.  This season, however, he has been pressed in to more regular duty with Washington as a result of injuries to defensemen Brooks Orpik and John Carlson.  In 34 games (more than he had in the previous four seasons combined (24) and more than in any season since he appeared in 42 games for the Oilers in 2009-2010) he has four assists and is a plus-13, tied with Nate Schmidt and one behind Matt Niskanen and Karl Alzner for the team lead among defensemen.  In three career games against the Sabres, Chorney has not recorded a point, and he is a plus-1.

In the end…

This is one of those “trap games,” the kind in which it might be tempting for the Caps to peek ahead to their contest with the Rangers on Sunday evening.  Given that the Caps are going to be playing back-to-back contests, it might be that Philipp Grubauer gets a start in goal with Braden Holtby held out to face the Rangers in the Sunday matchup. Any way you slice it, this is one of those games that tests the “stick to business” theme for the Caps.  It is something they have done well over the first half of the season, and they certainly did not take the Sabres lightly in their home-and-home set last month, shutting them out in Buffalo (2-0) and beating them handily in Washington (5-2).  The Sabres might make it interesting, but not interesting enough to make it a bad night for the Caps.

Capitals 5 – Sabres 3

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 4 - Canucks 1

In hockey, it is said that the area behind the opponent’s net was “Wayne Gretzky’s Office,” a place from which he took advantage of opponents repeatedly with creative playmaking. These days, Evgeny Kuznetsov has opened a branch office in the same patch of real estate, and his on-time shipment of a pass to Tom Wilson in the third period last night – a backhand pass that Wilson converted into the Caps’ third goal – highlighted a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

After a scoreless first period it was Kuznetsov who got the Caps on the board in the seventh minute of the middle frame. Seconds after a tripping penalty to Vancouver’s Alexander Edler expired, the Canucks tried to spring him on a break as he came out of the box. Edler lost control of the puck at the Capitals’ blue line, and Dmitry Orlov took over. Orlov headed in the other direction with Kuznetsov on a 2-on-1 rush. Gaining the Vancouver blue line, Orlov slid the puck under Yannick Weber’s stick to Kuznetsov cutting down the middle. Kuznetsov faked a forehand, deking goalie Ryan Miller to the ice, then slid the puck around his glove to make it 1-0, 6:12 into the period.

Almost six minutes later Karl Alzner added to the Caps’ lead. During a scrum along the right wing wall, Matt Niskanen flattened Sven Baertschi, and this seemed to provide a bit of a distraction, allowing the Caps to work the puck around to Alzner alone on the left side. Alzner took his time, wound up, and fired a slap shot that appeared to tick off the shaft of Radim Vrbata's stick and sailed past Miller’s blocker, leaving the goalie pounding his stick on the ice in frustration over whiffing on a shot he felt he should have stopped.

Less than two minutes into the third period, Kuznetsov worked his magic. A lot of it was the doing of Andre Burakovsky, who batted an errant pass into the corner to Miller’s left, then darted behind the Vancouver net to out-duel Alex Biega for the puck, pushing it to Kuznetsov in the trapezoid. Kuznetsov, facing the end wall, feinted a move to his right, then backhanded a saucer pass out to Wilson camped out on Miller’s right. Wilson wasted no time putting the puck into the open side of the net, and it was 3-1, Washington.

After Vrbata got the Canucks on the board on a 5-on-3 power play mid-way through the period, Kuznetsov sealed the win with an empty net goal with sixth-tenths of a second left in regulation to give the Caps their final 4-1 margin.

Other stuff…

-- The win was the Caps’ fifth in a row, the fourth time this season that the Caps put together a winning streak of five or more games.

-- Justin Williams took a puck to the side of his face in the last minute of the first period, courtesy of a shot from Andre Burakovsky. He returned to take a regular shift in the second period with the second group of forwards to jump on. He finished the game with an assist on the Karl Alzner goal, his third straight game with a point, and was a plus-3 in 18:26 of ice time.

-- Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his fifth game of the season with three or more points. Only Jamie Benn, Taylor Hall, and Patrick Kane have more, each with six games.

-- The win pushed the Caps’ record to 11-0-1 against Canada this season, the lone blemish a 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames on November 13th.

-- Tom Wilson recorded a goal in his second consecutive game, his fourth of the season in his 43rd game, tying his total in 67 games last season.

-- Andre Burakovsky recorded a pair of assists, giving him consecutive multi-point games and three for the season.

-- Braden Holtby improved to 20-0-2 in his last 23 appearances with a 1.85 goals against average, a .939 save percentage, and two shutouts. 

-- In the “youth be served” file…Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov led the Caps with six shots on goal.  It was part of a barrage on Canucks’ netminder Ryan Miller, the Caps finishing the game with a 73-58 edge in total shot attempts and a 40-30 edge in shots on goal.

-- The 5-on-3 power play goal the Caps surrendered was the first such goal they allowed this season.  There are nine teams remaining that have not allowed a 5-on-3 power play goal this season.

-- Karl Alzner…a goal, plus-3, six shot attempts, a hit, three blocked shots (led the team).  He deserved that third star.

-- Bonus… We noted in the prognosto that Vancouver was awful on faceoffs.  Well, are they ever. The Caps enjoyed a 34-20 edge in draws (63.0 percent).  When Marcus Johansson (8-for-11) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (10-for-15) combined to win 69 percent of their draws, well…

In the end…

This was one of those “python” games in which the Caps wrapped themselves around their opponent and squeezed (13-8 edge in shots in the first period), and squeezed some more until the opponent yielded (three unanswered goals).  Even though it was Alex Ovechkin getting the award at the start of the evening for reaching the 500 career goal mark, it was a night for the kids to shine – Kuznetsov (2-1-3), Burakovsky (two assists), and Wilson (a goal and more offensive presence than he usually displays).  It was another example of the Caps getting contributions from all over the lineup on a night-to-night basis.  They can beat you a lot of ways, but the common theme is…they beat you.

 

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 43: Canucks at Capitals, January 14th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals have had three days without hockey, but on Thursday night it is time to get back to business as the Vancouver Canucks come to town.  The Caps will be looking to extend their current winning streak to five games and make it their fourth winning streak this season of five or more games.

The Canucks, on the other hand, will be looking to win consecutive games for the first time in almost three weeks and only the second time in more than a month.  Vancouver has been alternating wins and losses of late, going 4-2-1 in their last seven games that coincided with their longest home stand of the season.  This contest will open a six-game road trip that will take the Canucks almost to the all-star break.

The odd – and perhaps ominous – part of the Canucks’ 4-2-1 record over their last seven games is that three of the wins came in extra time (twice in overtime, once in the Gimmick).  Their offense has been almost non-existent over that span of games, registering a total of just 13 goals, only 11 in 21 regulation periods of hockey.  It makes the 17 goals they allowed over those seven games – a very respectable number – look worse than they are.

Special teams are a mixed bag.  The power play is 4-for-22 in their 4-2-1 run (18.2 percent), while the penalty kill is 14-for-17 (82.4 percent).  It makes for a decent special teams index (100.6), but the Canucks can point to neither as something carrying the team forward.

Of the 13 goals scored over their last seven games, four of them were recorded by Bo Horvat.  The sudden jolt in his goal totals came in the midst of what has been a disappointing sophomore season for him in that statistic.  Horvat finished tied for seventh among rookies in goals scored last season (13), but he had just two in his first 39 contests this season until his recent production.  What he cannot hide, though, is that among 785 skaters to have dressed so far this season, he is ranked tied for dead last in plus-minus (minus-20).  Horvat has one assist in two career games against the Capitals.

Henrik Sedin leads the team over this stretch in assists with four, but he has not turned on the red light himself.  It is part of a first half that has him on a somewhat spooky pace of 18-54-72, almost precisely what he finished with in 82 games last season (18-55-73).  The goal scoring might be something of a concern, however, given the team’s recent drought.  Henrik does not have a goal in his last 12 games and only one in his last 17 contests.  He is primarily a set-up man, and he does have 12 assists over those same last 17 games.  But with the club averaging less than two goals per game over their last seven games, and the team generally underperforming on offense (ranked 15th), more would be helpful from Henrik.  He is 3-10-13, plus-3, in 16 career games against Washington.

Ben Hutton is the only defenseman in the Western Conference who has ten or more assists and no goals (0-10-10).  The 22-year old rookie out of Brockville, Ontario, was a fifth-round pick of the Canucks in the 2012 draft, after which he spent three years in the University of Maine program in the NCAA.  Four games in the AHL later, at the end of last season, and he is a Canuck, one of three Vancouver defensemen to have recorded ten or more points this season.  What he is not at the moment is hot.  After posting nine points (all assists) in his first 22 games, he has one point (an assist) in his last 14 contests.  He has one career appearance against the Caps, that in Washington’s 3-2 win in Vancouver on October 22nd, without a point and registering a minus-1.

Here is how the teams compare to one another overall:

1.  Vancouver’s recent road record is nothing to get excited about, if you are a Canuck fan.  They are 2-4-3 in their last nine road contests, and one of the two wins came in the freestyle competition.  They were shut out in three of the four regulation losses.

2.  Ryan Miller has missed the Canucks’ last eight games in goal with a groin injury suffered on December 20th in the shootout phase of Vancouver’s 5-4 loss to Florida.  In his place, Jacob Markstrom went 5-2-2 (he took the shootout loss when Miller departed against Florida), 2.18, .927.  Miller is expected to return to action against the Caps.

3.  For what it’s worth, Vancouver is the worst team in the league taking faceoffs (45.2 percent).  What could spell doom for the Canucks is that they are last in faceoffs when shorthanded, winning an anemic 39.7 percent of their draws.

4.  Speak of penalty killing, Vancouver has faced the third highest number of shorthanded situations on the road this season (83), behind only Winnipeg (92) and Columbus (103).  Only the Blue Jackets have allowed more power play goals on the road (23) than the Canucks (20).

5.  Vancouver is a middle of the road team on the road in possession numbers.  They rank 15^th overall in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in away games (48.8 percent).   Looping back to those last nine road games in which they are 2-4-3, the Canucks are slightly below their season numbers (47.8 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Did you know that “defense-first” head coach Barry Trotz has been behind the bench for four games in which the Caps scored seven goals over the past two years (all this season).  No team over the last two seasons has more seven-or-more goal games (Nashville and Ottawa each have four).

2.  Of those four seven-goal games, the Caps had two of them at home (against Ottawa and Colorado) and two on the road (at Edmonton and at the New York Rangers).

3.  Washington is 6-for-12 on the power play on home ice over their last four home games (50.0 percent), 11-for-25 over their last eight home games.  That has lifted them to over 30 percent for the season on home ice (30.6 percent), second best in the league to Boston (32.8 percent).

4.  Only three teams in the East have missed a greater percentage of their shot attempts than the Caps (21.8 percent): Tampa Bay (23.9 percent), Toronto (24.7 percent), and Carolina (24.8 percent).

5.  Washington is 15^th in the league in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 on home ice (51.8).  Despite the fact that the Caps bring a ten-game winning streak on home ice into this game, their Corsi numbers have been a bit lower than their season numbers at Verizon Center (49.8 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless Players to Ponder

Vancouver: Daniel Sedin

When a hockey hall of famer refers to you on-air as a “lowlife,” people will take notice.  That is how Daniel Sedin was described by Florida Panthers TV analyst and hall of famer Denis Potvin after Sedin scored the game winning goal in overtime to end the Panthers’ 12-game winning streak.  There were also references to dining habits. For Sedin it was just another night at the office (two goals) in a season that has him averaging almost a point a game (40 in 43 games) and that has him within a goal (19) of the total he had last year in 82 games (20). 

His next goal will give him the franchise record that he currently shares with Markus Naslong (346), and he trails only brother Henrik in career assists for the franchise (575 to 731) and career points as a Canuck (921 to 951).  He has slowed down somewhat lately, though.  After a 24-game run in which he went 12-17-29, he is 5-1-6 in his last dozen games.  Daniel Sedin is 7-6-13, plus-3, in 15 career games against the Caps.

Washington: Jason Chimera

Nicklas Backstrom has four three-or-more point games this season.  Not a surprise.  So does Evgeny Kuznetsov.  We can see that.  Next in line, with three three-or-more point games is Jason Chimera, who has three (at home against Colorado and Ottawa, and on the road against Philadelphia). He did not have one all of last season.  Shoot, even Curis Glencross had one, and he was here and gone in the blink of an eye.  Jay Beagle had one, for heaven’s sake. 

Chimera is on a bit of a run lately.  After suffering a five-game streak without a point in December, he is 5-6-11, plus-9, over his last 14 games.  His next power play point will make him the sixth Capital to reach ten power play points this season.  They had nine players reach that mark last year, and Chimera was not one of them.  He had none in 77 games, in fact.  He is 9-5-14, minus-3, in 31 career games against Vancouver.

In the end…

Although the Pacific Division is not having its strongest season, they have been successful against the Metropolitan Division.  Excluding Vancouver, the division is 31-24-3 against the Metro.  Then there are the Canucks.  Their 4-4-1 record against the Metropolitan Division is the second worst among seven Pacific Division teams (Arizona is 2-6-2).  Their only road win against the Metro in three games was against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

On the other hand, the Caps have done well against the Pacific Division.  However, while they are 4-1-1 overall against the Pacific, they are just 1-1-1 on home ice.  This is a game that can turn on special teams.  Vancouver is a respectable plus-5 in 5-on-5 goal differential in away games (ninth in the league), while the Caps are sixth in home goal differential at 5-on-5 (plus-11).  The Caps’ power play (ranked second in the league at home) against the Canucks’ penalty killers (ranked 23^rd on the road) heavily favors Washington.  That is where the Caps will win.

Capitals 4 – Canucks 2

Washington Capitals: At the Half-Way Mark -- Three Cousins, Three Questions

The Washington Capitals passed the half-way point of their regular season schedule last weekend, and it seems as good a time as any to take stock of where they have been and where they might be going in their quest for a Stanley Cup.  As you might expect, the cousins have their own take on those questions.

Cheerless… “Yeah, one thing I want to know, where do we keep this ‘stock’ we’re taking?  I was out in the barn this morning, and it looked pretty empty to me.”

Fearless… “Except for all the moonshine bottles strewn about…”

Peerless… Can we get back to the subject?  The Caps finished the first half of the season with a 31-7-3 record.  They lead the league in wins, as well as regulation and overtime wins.  The only teams with more standings points earned at home have played more games than the Caps.  They have the best road record in the league.  They have the second best scoring offense and second-best scoring defense.  They have the second-best power play, and it’s worth noting that the best teams in each of those three categories are different teams.  They have the…

Cheerless… “You goin’ somewhere with this, cuz, or are you just grazin’?”

Peerless… OK, first queston.  Is this as good as it gets, or is this a new normal for this club?

Fearless… The Caps are on a pace to win 62 games, which would match the NHL record set by the 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings.  Oddly enough, they are on a pace to finish with almost the same record as that club.  Detroit finished 62-13-7, the Caps are on pace to finish 62-14-6.  That said, the half-season version of the Caps looks a lot like the full-season version of the 1995-1996 Red Wings.  I did this handy little chart, anticipating your hypothetical…

As you can see, the Caps compare favorably with that Red Wings team in most areas. But…

Cheerless… “Always stickin’ your ‘but’ in.”

Fearless… As I was about to say, the Caps have done this over half a season.  To expect them to sustain that level of performance over the second half is a reach.  While they are a very good team, even a dominant one by contemporary standards, that Red Wings team was unreal.  They finished their regular season with 131 standings points, 27 ahead of the second-best team in the league, the Colorado Avalanche (104).  They had 13 more wins than the next biggest winner, the Pittsburgh Penguins (49).

Cheerless… Now get to the good part.

Fearless… Well, it wasn’t so good for the Red Wings.  They didn’t dominate in the postseason, going six games in the first round before beating the Winnipeg Jets, a team that finished with just 78 points in the regular season, and then took seven games to subdue the St. Louis Blues, who finished with just 80 points. They lost in the conference final in six games to the Avalanche.  Being good in the regular season matters; being dominant?  Perhaps not as much.  To get back to your original question, I don’t much care whether this is a spike in performance or, as you put it, a ‘new normal.’”

Peerless… OK, then what DO you care about?

Cheerless… “Well, unlike my esteemed cousin with all the fancy words here, I was taught that winnin’ was better than losin’.  But not losin’ a lot is better than winnin’ a lot.”

Peerless… Can anyone translate that?

Fearless… “I speak ‘Cheerless-ese’ passably well, so I’ll take a shot.  I think what he is saying is that the thing that impresses about the Caps so far, as much as the winning, is the ability to avoid losing streaks.  One instance of consecutive losses over a 42-game span is impressive. Compare that to the 1995-1996 Red Wings.  They didn’t have what you call “the gimmick” back in the day, but they did have overtime.  And in the first half of that season, the Wings had an instance of three consecutive games without a win (0-1, with two ties), consecutive losses in regulation, and a four game stretch in which they went 1-2, with a tie.  What I would be happy seeing in the second half is the Caps avoiding those kinds of slumps.  It would suggest an ability to shrug off bad performances or bad luck and getting back down to business, an attitude that could come in handy in the spring.

Peerless… OK, second question.  The Caps signed Mike Richards to a pro-rated one-year/$1 million contract.  Can he make the team better?

Fearless… No.  But let me explain that, starting with a question.  How do you get “better” from 32-7-3?  You don’t.  But, what you can do is justify the number with better underlying statistics.  The Caps have had possession issues for about two months now.  Their record has the faint whiff of opportunistic play – taking advantage of their depth of skill – more than rock-solid possession stats.  Richards comes from a hockey culture in Los Angeles that seemed to feed off of the fundamentals with respect to possession.  He will not be asked to do a lot with the Caps in terms of scoring line responsibility, but he can provide depth in the middle, and it is that attention to the basics that has been inconsistent with the Caps over the last few weeks.

Cheerless… OK, that is what he can provide.  But this is a guy who hasn’t played a game since April 9th last season, and it wasn’t as if he was all that productive when he did play.  He was 5-11-16, minus-10, in 53 games last season.  He had his problems, and we all hope those are behind him.  But he has more than 800 regular season and playoff games on his record, playing a hard-nosed style that suggests a player bigger than he is (5’11”/196).  He is 30 years old.  Is that an “old” 30?  He had 41 points in 82 games in 2003-2014 on a Cup winner.  He had 16 points in 53 games on a team last year that didn’t make the playoffs.  If he is anything like the former, the Caps might be able to sustain something close to the level of success they had in the first half.  If he’s more like the latter, the Caps still might have issues to deal with on their underlying game.

Peerless… Last one.  If the playoffs started today, the Caps’ first round opponent would be the New Jersey Devils.  Anything about that team scare you, and bonus question, what team would be the worst first round matchup in a playoff scenario?

Cheerless… “I see where you’re goin’ here, cuz.  You’re askin’ who can ‘Halak’ the Caps out of the playoffs?  You look at the teams bunched in the 7-10 range in the standings, the ones that might finish as an eight-seed and get the Caps in a first round, if the Caps win the conference.  Who among Boston, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, or Ottawa has a goalie who can steal a round?  I keep waiting for Tuukka Rask to improve in Boston, and he did have a ten-game stretch there where he didn’t lose in regulation, but he seems to be in a rut again.  New Jersey has Cory Schneider.  He hasn’t allowed more than three goals in consecutive games all season.  But that team just doesn’t score enough in front of him; he's lost ten games in which he allowed two or fewer goals.  Ottawa doesn’t give their goaltender enough help in front of him; they allow too many chances.  Tampa Bay…that’s the team that scares me.  Ben Bishop might not steal games the way Jaroslav Halak did against the Caps in 2010, but he plays really well in that system.  If they ever get their heads screwed on right at the other end, and if the Stamkos thing settles down in their favor, they could be a load.”

Fearless… “One problem the Caps had in 2010 was that things came a bit too easy for them.  They didn’t seem to have to fight through games all that often.  Sure, there was the occasional big comeback, but there was a 'Showtime' aspect to that team that melted away in 'Crunch Time.'  That is where this team is different.  The last game is the last game for them.  They put it behind them, win or lose, and take up their lunch pails and get to work on the next one.”

Cheerless… “What’s this, ‘Ode to the Working Man’ Tuesday?”

Fearless… “I was just reading some works by Studs Terkel.”

Cheerless… “You made that name up…”

Fearless… “No, he…”

Peerless… “Can we?”

Fearless… “Sure…as I was saying, this is a club that seems better insulated against the dreaded ‘hot goaltender’ that bedeviled this franchise in 30 years of playoff misfortune.  And besides, the Caps are the ones with the ‘hot goaltender.’  Maybe you should be asking if that’s the ‘new normal’ around here.”

Peerless… Good point, but that’s a question for another day.  What the Caps have done so far this season is extraordinary.  Unprecedented, in fact, in the context of the franchise’s history.  The aim now is not to put up gaudy win numbers for their own sake.  A Capital remarked the other day that it wasn’t about winning 50 or 60 games, but winning the last one.  More than the win total through the first half of the season, the Caps have been consistent in the way they go about things and in the outcomes that come from that effort.  It is the sign of a mature, focused team.  Maintaining that approach might not mean 60 wins in the regular season, but it very well could mean 16 wins in the postseason.

Two of a Kind Who Are One of a Kind

You get to a certain level of performance in any endeavor, and by definition there are few to compare one’s self to.  Yesterday Alex Ovechkin became the 43rd member of the “500-Goal Club” in NHL history, and I’ve struggled as a fan with making a comparison to any other athlete I’ve seen.

It finally occurred to me, the comparison literally under my nose, or more precisely on a cup I keep on my desk.  It is a cup commemorating the 1979 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions from Michigan State University, which happens to be my alma mater.  I spent a lot of time sitting in Jenison Field House that season watching a young man who, like Ovechkin, was a highly sought after talent as a teenager and who, like Ovechkin, had the promise to take over games and remake the sport in his own image.

They also shared the same sort of infectious joy that they brought to the court and to the rink.  Not to mention the fact that they seemed just as happy making a pass and seeing a teammate score as they were when they did so themselves.

To me, one can draw a bright line from the Earvin “Magic” Johnson of that 1978-1979 Spartan basketball team to the Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals hockey team who is still scoring goals and celebrating each one as if it was his first in what is now his 11th season in the NHL. 

Both players possess a flair for the dramatic and an appreciation for the elements of showmanship that bring fans into the play.  Every time they had the ball or the puck, you paid attention.  But each has a respect for their craft, able to remake and improve their games as necessary to sustain their level of excellence.  Johnson made himself a better shooter, Ovechkin has made himself a more responsible defender, to the point where he can be "a pain in the ass.”   And each remade their respective positions, Johnson with the size of a power forward who remade the position of point guard, and Ovechkin a power forward in the body of an NFL linebacker who could skate or stickhandle around as much as drive through opponents.

Johnson’s amateur and professional careers included more by way of team achievements, but part of that is the lack of depth around Ovechkin in previous years in a sport that not only prizes it, but requires it for championship success.  It is no longer fantasy to think that Ovechkin will join Johnson in having tasted a championship before his career comes to an end.

Nevertheless, for sheer star magnitude, uncommon skill, the durable nature of their excellence, the tenacity to persevere in making themselves better with time, and the joy with which they play the game and that they share with their fans, this fan who had the special privilege of seeing both play in person sees one in the other.  Of each it could be said that there were none before them quite like them, and none since.